Advice

Cover art? Check. Blurb? Check. Words for the inside of the book? Check! It’s all coming together nicely – and here’s a sneak preview of the cover, just for you. The release is currently scheduled for October with the pre-orders coming in September. If you liked my worksheets, please check it out – it’s got even more resources to help you with your work.

It’s been a busy year for me so far with a lot of deadlines, but I’m really looking forward to this one. Stay tuned for more news soon!

I posted a while back about the Worldbuilding book I planned to release. It still hasn’t happened yet as things came up that made me delay (and I was so close!), but I’m hoping to have it out before November. The current release date is October 15 and I’m hoping to get the pre-orders up at the beginning of October. Why November? NaNoWriMo, of course! I’m writing this book with you guys in mind and I’m hoping it will give you a bit of inspiration for your advance planning.

Of course, the book isn’t aimed solely at novel writers. It’s for any writer who needs a world built from scratch. Fiction in all its guises – prose, script, screenplay, games – and in whatever genre you write. While people might think “worldbuilding” applies only to the sci-fi and fantasy worlds we create, the same principals can be relevant to other genres too. Have you ever read historical fiction where the author has got a fact spectacularly wrong (for example, mentioning their Tudor-era peasants raiding the fridge)? That’s bad worldbuilding (and poor research). It’s not just about the fantastical and the futuristic. It’s about making all the elements of your story stick together. Worldbuilding is the glue that binds. It’s the waterproofing that rejects the unbelievable. It’s the tiny details that give your story a soul.

In the past, I’ve been the unofficial ML for the Portsmouth (UK) Region. This year, it’s official. There will be a series of tweets running through October to get you prepared for November (from @AngelLithium and @NaNoPortsmouth), but if you can’t wait to see them each day, here’s an outline. I’m mostly using my worksheets to get you planning, but there are some days when I leave you to your own devices. Good luck! Continue reading →